Double boost for Gunners

Arsenal have been lifted by the news that Aaron Ramsey and Robin van Persie should resume full training by the end of next week.

Ramsey has not played since breaking his leg in February while van Persie has been out with ankle ligament damage since August. However, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has revealed that Ramsey is further away from a first team return than Van Persie.

"Van Persie and Ramsey are very close to coming back to full training now," Wenger told Arsenal TV Online. "They should be back in the group at the end of next week. Of course we should not set the same [recovery] time to Ramsey as Van Persie."

He added: "Aaron will need a longer period to be completely match-fit for the first team. But Van Persie is not far away now."

Full-back Kieran Gibbs will miss Saturday's Barclays Premier league clash with West Ham at Emirates Stadium because of a knee problem.

Gibbs has been ruled out for "a few weeks" with the injury sustained during Wednesday night's 4-0 Carling Cup victory over Newcastle.

"It's a medial knee ligament strain. It needs to be checked on the scan but it will be a few weeks," said Wenger.

Abou Diaby (ankle) and Jack Wilshere (suspended) will also sit out the Hammers match. Manuel Almunia (elbow) and Thomas Vermaelen (Achilles) are still in rehabilitation.

"We should have a similar squad to the one that played at Manchester City," said Wenger.

"Manuel Almunia is maybe one to two weeks away. With Vermaelen, it is difficult to set a fixed time because the Achilles improves slowly."

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